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The Magistrate’s Court at Southampton, UK, slapped a £12,000 fine and costs on Eimco Water Technologies Ltd, based in Essex, for failing to providing adequate safety measures to workers.

The judgement followed the hearing for an accident that took place in 2008 involving a contractor working for the company at a construction site of a power plant. The company pleaded guilty for breach of Health and Safety at Work Act. The judgement comes in the wake of a similar one involving a fatal accident at the UK’s largest port, following which the HSE had already cautioned employers to take serious measures to prevent injuries and loss of life at work.

Contractor Grzegorz Trafisz sustained fractures to his pelvis when he was engaged in assembling components for an equipment that filtered seawater prior to circulating it through the power plant. The heavy equipment, consisting of a steel gate positioned about 0.6 metres above ground atop axles, broke loose from the axles and crashed down on the contractor.

The incident brought a fresh warning from the Health and Safety Executive to employers asking them to upgrade safety measures and re-evaluate risk levels. The organisation pointed out that Eimco had failed to use ideal tools for the operation and have a proper procedure in place for such a high-risk operation. The company was reprimanded for not assessing operational hazards effectively and compromising on the safety and health of its employees.

IOSH training can help organisations to cut the health and safety risks that apply in any workplace; take advantage of the IOSH Managing Safely course operated by reputable companies such as Workplace Law. It